KABLOONA
out against a perfectly serene blue-green sky. Silence and un-
reality dominated the scene, and after we had started once more
I turned round again and again to fill my eyes with the beauty
of what was in sum merely an irregular terrain, of no interest
to an eye less starved than mine.
We were still rising3 and it was clear to me that we should
have to cross this range and come down the other side of the
island that we were on, in order to reach the sea and Pelly
Bay. But the up-hill work seemed never to end, and as we
moved through pass after pass I began to be worried. Our dogs
were panting: Algunerk had not let us have Nigak for leader,
and out of the nine huskies three were young and not yet
toughened by hard work on the trail. To spare the team as far
as possible, I followed the slope of the mountains obliquely
instead of driving straight ahead— a procedure that Shongili
could not understand. I began to worry lest we be overtaken
by night Why, I do not know, but the thought of spending the
night in these mountains sent a chill through me that I had
never felt on tundra or sea. I asked Shongili if it was far, now,
to the camp of the Arviligjuarmiut?
'A-va-ta-ne' he said. (The other side.)
The other side of what?5
He said something very quickly in a rumbling voice that
came up out of his belly. When I made him repeat it, I under-
stood as little as before. Then he laughed, and I flew into a
rage. (Decidedly, I was incorrigible.) I ran on ahead of the
dogs, stumbled and fell, and when I looked back I saw him sit-
ting on the sled. Both Shongili and the mountains seemed to be
mocking me. Going back, I ordered him off the sled and on
ahead; and he, to avenge himself, began to beat the dogs. But
just as I was about to rush forward I saw him tripped up in the
harness, rolling over and over in the snow. It gave me pleasure
enough to make the next hour endurable.
When evening came the scene was coloured like a Swiss postal
card. Ahead, the sky was deep green, and behind it was violent
red, like the brief sunset of the desert. A crescent moon hung in
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